masters degrees in the us or uk?

[mustang-monk]

k so i finish my course in politicas and law in a year and im currently mulling over the idea of doing a masters course.

ive so far come up with a few options

1- do british politics in leeds (uk) in which you spend a semester working at the house of commons for an MP

2- do american politics in london.

3- go international and study american politics or political science in the US

its mainly the 3 option that id like some opinions on. my main worries would be cost (healthcare, accomodation flights, course fees).

i recon id need at least £10,000 ($20000) and costs for fees on a 1 year masters.

if you have and opinion on any of the choices or a 4th posibility thatd be great.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

If you are in the UK, could you not get a grant?

I'm not doing my masters this year (trying to get experience first), but most people i know who are going on to do post grad are being paid for it. The lowest paid is £9,800 (ish), but thats after the £3,000-£4,000 in course fee's are paid off (so it's more like £13,000 he is getting).

So you probably wouldn't need to worry tooooo much about the money side. Of course, if you can get the grant.

[mustang-monk]

can you get a grant to study abroad if so awesome.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I don't know, maybe, maybe not.

It would probably cost alot more to study abroad.

Universities tend to make a killing off international students.

i.e. Dundee uni (up until last year, the prices have since gown up for all i think)

Scottish & UK students - £1,250 per year
International students - £10,000 per year

And taking into consideration that it is generally more expensive to do masters courses, it could be costing you a bomb. But i dont know if the other universities are like that.

What to do is email whoever is in charge of the course you are looking at (at the university of interest) and ask.

[mustang-monk]

at bradford uk students pay £3000 and international pay £9000, it costs £9000 perstudent to study but your local council pays the £6000. its the fact that international students dont get money from the local council tbh i think id prefer to do like a short course like a summer course in politics or american politics itd bring the costs down and i wouldnt have to stay for like a full year

[Geoff St. Germaine]

Where I did my MSc. the international undergrad students had to pay the full unsubsidized amount, but the grad students all paid the same rate. My South African buddy was happy when he switched over from paying around $10K/year as an undergrad to around $3K/year as a grad student.

[mustang-monk]

Originally Posted by Geoff St. Germaine

Where I did my MSc. the international undergrad students had to pay the full unsubsidized amount, but the grad students all paid the same rate. My South African buddy was happy when he switched over from paying around $10K/year as an undergrad to around $3K/year as a grad student.

i think i need to do something interesting and just go away for a year. its probably cos i hate where i am its bradford and its a hell hole.

also canada is an other option. the canadian political structure is really similar to the UK.

this is really stopping me doing my current essay on femeinism tho but oh well

a big worry would be choosing the worng institution and ending up in a ****** place. i know someone that got accepted in to kings college but didnt really know which was best and chose bradford. big mistake.

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by mustang-monk

can you get a grant to study abroad if so awesome.

At the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I worked with several visiting graduate students (Masters and PhD students) from India, China and Europe. All of these students received research and /or teaching grants to help pay their educational costs. Many received tuition waivers for at least part of the degree program.

I am confident that many if not all the major American universities offer this type of assistance. Check directly with the Departments at the universities that you are interested in attending to see what grants are available.

Good Luck!

[theshadow2001]

Well if your studying politics it seems like a good idea to study in the same country that you would be using the masters in.

Not much point doing it in another countries political system

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by theshadow2001

Well if your studying politics it seems like a good idea to study in the same country that you would be using the masters in.

Not much point doing it in another countries political system

There is an entire field dedicated to International Politics. Understanding another country's political system is often very useful to the student's country of origin, in both areas of government and business.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by mustang-monk

this is really stopping me doing my current essay on femeinism tho but oh well

[essay]"Get back in the kitchen"[/essay]


(j/k! )

Originally Posted by mustang-monk

a big worry would be choosing the worng institution and ending up in a ****** place. i know someone that got accepted in to kings college but didnt really know which was best and chose bradford. big mistake.

It is always best to look into establishments first. Hell, ask on here, there is probably a TB'er or two that are, or have been at most US and UK university.

Originally Posted by Geoff St. Germaine

Where I did my MSc. the international undergrad students had to pay the full unsubsidized amount, but the grad students all paid the same rate. My South African buddy was happy when he switched over from paying around $10K/year as an undergrad to around $3K/year as a grad student.

That may be the same here aswell, im not too sure to be honest.

[mustang-monk]

ive done international politcs and international relations infact im doing an essay on that right now my dissertaion is gonna be on some sort of comparison between the uk and us

ive got at least 2 years to research i suppose got to do my 3rd year and then at least one year working and saving. i just dont want to stay in the uk, id like to go somewhere else for a long period of time, before i settle down in to steady work.

on the subject of feminism i mentioned the essay to 3 girls at work and only one had heard of feminism. one girl in politics at a level believe women should stay in politics, she was like "men have been doing it all the time well so why should women try"

[i_got_a_mohawk]

So are you just about to start your final year?

Good luck mate

Im glad my dissertation is long out the way now, and it was only 50 pages, not a scratch on a PhD thesis!

[mustang-monk]

mine is 15000 wordive got to have a question idea for next month. im not 100%

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by mustang-monk

mine is 15000 wordive got to have a question idea for next month. im not 100%

A friendly suggestion - get in the habit of being nitpicky about spelling, punctuation and grammar when you're typing. If you are sloppy on a daily basis with this, it's that much harder to get it right when you really need to do it.

As a Uni lecturer I can tell you that I mark a lot of assignments on which people have worked hard and submitted some good material, only to fail because of the abysmal standard of English. It's a real shame because often their work is otherwise fine.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by bassybill

A friendly suggestion - get in the habit of being nitpicky about spelling, punctuation and grammar when you're typing. If you are sloppy on a daily basis with this, it's that much harder to get it right when you really need to do it.

As a Uni lecturer I can tell you that I mark a lot of assignments on which people have worked hard and submitted some good material, only to fail because of the abysmal standard of English. It's a real shame because often their work is otherwise fine.

+1

The project tutor i had for my dissertation was great, he got us (3 of us doing that dissertation project) some sessions with an english professor just to tighten up our english.

It was really helpful! (having not done any language based class in about 6 years!)

[Techmonkey]

Just out of curiosity, how are you finding the course?

I'm torn between a few different fields (engineering, medicine, physics, politics) and my AS politics teacher suggested I should look in to doing a politics/PPE course.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

If you are going for medicine, you better be really commited to it. It is an incredibly hard course with a really really high drop out rate.

Engineering would lead to good money.

Physics might leave you in a rut, but im not entirely sure. I know with the life sciences at least, trying to get a job is a nightmare.

[mustang-monk]

Originally Posted by Techmonkey

Just out of curiosity, how are you finding the course?

I'm torn between a few different fields (engineering, medicine, physics, politics) and my AS politics teacher suggested I should look in to doing a politics/PPE course.

study plotics but make sure its the kind of politics you are interested in and id steer clear of bradford.